Lilys life - new and improved version
by Shadow Spirit
Summary: basicly what the title says folowing the soon to be Lilly Potter throught Hogwots WOOO!!! NEXT CHAP IS UP GO ME....please r/r
1. Ch - Of boardom, Begginings and Bus Ride...

  
DISCLAMER: none of this is mine! Not the characters, not the places or the names or even most  
of the Plot! If you recognize it at all it isn't mine and if any authors out there recognize anything   
they think I have accidentally used that was theirs, any thing at all, e-mail me at   
Alannah15@hotmail.com   
and tell me so and I will clearly say in the idea/writing that it is yours or if it really bothers you I   
will change or delete it!  
  
A/N: this is a re posting of the old story with a new chapter on the end hopefully I have fixed al   
the probs all you kind and amazing reviewers pointed out, feel free to tell me if I missed any.  
  
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Ch 1: Of Boredom, Beginnings, and Bus Rides  
  
'Board!'  
  
That was the primary thought running thro the mind of 10 yr old Lilly flower evens. She   
wasn't actually 10 yet but she would be in exactly two hours it was 10 pm and Lilly was suffering   
through a speech given by her older sister Petunia on Lilly's own in adequacies both physical and   
mental accompanied by possible cures or actions, which could be taken to improve matters. These   
ranged from deportation to having Lilly committed to her becoming a nun. This was one of Petunias   
favorite subjects and it was clear she had given it some considerable thought.   
  
"…And so" Petunia was saying "short of walking around with a paper bag over your head" she   
stopped here to titter at her own 'wit' then continued "I can only suggest a lot of make up - I of   
course would be happy to advise you - and always wear sunglasses" Lilly had to stifle a giggle as   
Petunias words reminded her of a song 'always wear sun screen' which she hated while it was out but  
she still found its similarity to Petunias words funny but then Lilly was very sleepy and extremely   
board so any thing would seem funny to her right then. Because of this Lilly tuned back in to Petunias  
speech in time to hear her say "yes that should hide those ABNORMAL" a word Petunia stressed   
with the up most distain and disapproval "green eyes of yours honestly I don't know where you get   
that coloring from" the emerald green fathomless eyes in question had their 'abnormally' pail and long  
lashed lids drooping over them with the wait of sheer boredom she was currently feeling so they   
semi-masked their green enchanting almost glowing depths.   
  
Her long braid of bright red hair pooled in  
her lap stark against the khaki of her cap sleeved belly top and the dark denim of her tight hipster   
flared jeans Lilly played with the bobble securing the end of her plat it was khaki like her top and had a  
small lily flower on the end matching her name (part of an Christmas gift from a slightly insane aunt   
who probably thought it was 'cute') seeing where Lilly's attention focused currently Petunia launched  
into a speech desecrating Lilly's beautiful hair "and that's another thing" she ranted "if you would just  
cut that infernal hair of yours" she stated "a good black die some straitening irons and you'd look a   
good deal better" Lilly wasn't vain simply because looks didn't matter one way or the next to her just   
as long as she was clean and at least semi-presentable when she had to be Lilly was happy but now   
she wrinkled her tiny slightly up turned and…well… sweet button nose and shuddered hard enough to  
make the dusting of freckles (which was all Lilly's ivory-white skin had to show for an active summer   
in the sun) shake. It wasn't that Lilly particularly liked her almost knee length cascade of lovely copper  
ringlets indeed as with the rest of her appearance she felt neither one way or the next about it but the   
thought of short cropped badly straitened and artificially blackened hair was enough to make even Lilly  
shudder. Deciding it was time to end this conversation as boredom was bearable but the idea of   
Petunia running off to find the necessaries to 'improve' Lilly's appearance was not a risk she was   
willing to take just now.   
  
Ignoring Petunia who was still babbling mid-sentence about where she could   
obtain a suitable black die at this time of the night Lilly stood up stretching her small slender fingers of  
her equally tiny pail hands towards the ceiling about as far as her petit frame would allow which was  
indeed was very far at all owing to Lilly's rather noticeable lacking in the height department then she   
bent at 90 decrees about her nicely slim waist and effortlessly touched her toes but finding she'd been  
sitting inactive for so long that this amount of stretching did not prove sufficient she slipped without   
thinking into a perfect splits and the its counter part the blocks (A/N for any one who doesn't know,   
the splits is stretching your legs as far forward as they go and the blocks are the same but instead of   
stretching forwards you stretch the legs as far out to the sides as possible) laying her head on her each  
leg and touching her toes in each position as she did so in an effort to stretch further her back and leg  
muscles and then in a final attempt Lilly leaned back and pushed her body up into an faultless almost   
strait legged back-bridge and from there she stood at last feeling her tense muscles loosen which, of   
course, had been the object of her stretches; satisfied she did a few (very) high kicks to the front and   
sides with her slim well shaped long looking (though in actual fact due to Lilly's own afore stated   
lacking in the height department they really weren't that long) legs (but never the less in her belly top   
and hipster jeans just then she looked the picture of any legs-up-to-her-armpits super model) and then  
shook out her limbs to finish her worm down. Straitening Lilly made for the door with petunias   
oblivious chattering still in the background but she stopped when she heard a tapping at the window.   
  
Looking over she found that the tapping was in fact a large tawny owl beating on the window pain   
with its beak, Lilly being the animal lover that she was immediately went to let it in which was clearly  
the purpose of its incessant tapping. Unfortunately the owls tapping had served the duel purpose of   
alerting Lilly to its presence out side the window and lifting Petunia from her musings and alerting her  
of the same fact. Petunia was now shrieking. Loudly! Despite or possibly because of her sisters cries   
Lilly increased her pace and was soon at the other side of the room where she stood on her tiptoes   
(to compensate for her diminutive height) and reached up a hand with clean and nicely shaped nails   
which currently were tinted an aqua-marine shade of blue with which she clasped the window catch   
firmly.  
  
In doing this however Lilly could not help but notice the clock on the mantel piece it read 1 minute   
past 12 Lilly stopped for a moment to digest the information that she was now officially 10 yrs old   
and that Petunias continued now hysterical shrieks and of course the sound of the owls beak against   
the double glazing must have drowned out the clocks tinny hourly chime. Shaking herself awake and   
blaming the lateness of the hour for her laps in concentration Lilly completed her task of opening the   
window. Much to petunias disgust the moment there was a gap large enough to admit it the owl   
surged into the Evans's sitting room began hooting and flying around the standing lamp.  
  
The hooting call was very pleasant Lilly thought as she vaguely herd Petunia yelling   
  
"…tell mom and dad when they get home tell them the moment they get in tomorrow ….as soon as   
they come through the door you'll be in soooooo much trouble…. letting disgusting, filthy, dirty,   
noisy, BIRDS into the house…. what will the neighbors think what if someone saw or heard cant you  
shut that damn thing up…?" while petunia was saying all this Lilly had taken the letter (which the owl   
had brought with it and was clearly offering to her) from its leg while it lighted on the corner of the   
coffee table in the center of the Evans's lounge and now she was taking no notice of petunia, the owl  
or even the parchment in her hand any more because she was franticly trying to digest the news that   
she; Lilly Flower Evens was a witch!  
  
Finding that her ranting was getting her nowhere and that Lilly was in some kind of trance she stopped  
mid sentence stalked over to Lilly and slapped her hard around the face. Still Lilly didn't react -   
Petunia frequently attacked her when their parents were out at one of their many important   
conferences about their jointly owned business called Grunnings drill manufacturers but Lilly rarely   
got badly hurt, not because she fought back as Lilly who had a temper as fiery as her hair refused to   
attack and maliciously hurt any member of her family (unfortunately for them this resolution didn't of  
course leave them exempt from the list of subjects who were often the targets of Lilly's many and   
varied though mostly harmless practical jokes and ingenious highly amusing pranks) but because Lilly   
was a fast runner and provided she wasn't cornered could escape Petunias clumsy attacks 9 times out  
of 10 but when she couldn't…an involuntary shiver creped through her slight frame at the thought of   
what happened when she couldn't escape her sisters attacks.  
  
Lilly also had few friends partly by   
choice though she knew that any lasting bond she may have formed with any of her contemporaries   
would be cruelly scissored by Petunia's wicked malice. Lilly however didn't mind as even though she  
was on a swimming and diving teem who often competed in galas she was a synchronized swimmer a  
trampolinest a horse rider and a top class performance as well as competitive dancer and gymnast,   
and these activities served not only to keep her out of the house and away from Petunia but also to   
bring her into contact with many other people, and she was well liked if not adored by most of these!  
However Lilly always kept them at arms length and managed to remain aloof so they always stayed   
acquaintances and teem mates rather than close friends. Lilly was exceptionally bright and was  
perfectly content to write or read or entertain her self in any spare time she had in truth she always was  
the dreamer the odd one out in any crowed, never quite feeling that she fitted in and now she knew   
why, she was a witch!   
  
Whether as a result of Petunias slap or these broodings the letter had induced Lilly's fingers loosened  
on her Hogworts letter and it fluttered limply down till it rested on the blue floral print carpet at Lilly's  
feet. Triumphantly petunia swooped down on it seizing it a bony long fingered fist and placing it close  
under her hook like nose so her silted beady plain blue eyes could squint shortsightedly at the text on   
the stolen parchment and almost instantly any trace of triumph drained from her snubbed horse like   
features as the information enclosed in the letter sunk in to her brain. She shrieked dropping the   
parchment as though it had suddenly become red hot and jumped back from it malicious face now   
turned to Lilly.   
  
Perhaps this was the best reaction Lilly could have hoped for because the shriek as Petunia let the   
parchment fall for a second time onto the floral print carpet served to awake Lilly and rouse her from   
her musings on finding she possessed a magical power and the rapid retreat from where the creamy  
white sheet now lay gave Lilly both space and time to react. It wasn't long but it was enough Lilly   
streaked nimbly past her sister dodging obstacles with the ease of a cat while Petunia blundered after   
her preceded by a series of clatters and bangs as the objects Lilly had so blithely dodged proved to   
much for petunias dexterity and were subsequently knocked from their place as she continued arms   
out stretched and fake nailed claw like bony fingers reached out in a fruitless attempt to both stop the   
damage her clumsy progress across the room was making and to land another bruising blow on her   
much quicker younger sister. Lilly was now at the door but hesitated on the thresh hold looking back   
she saw the abused and crumpled though still some how dignified cream parchment which Petunia   
had slipped on then kicked violently out of the way during her bungled attempts to catch Lilly, its   
green ink seemed to glitter in the light of the standing lamp as it emblazoned the words  
"Hogworts school of which craft and wizardry" Lilly's hesitation cost her precious seconds which   
could aid her in a brake for the safety of her locked room door but now this site decided her ducking   
the flailing fist of her sister now nearly on top of her Lilly sprinted back towards the corner of the   
room and her precious parchment leaping a coffee table with a dancers grace she landed perfectly feet  
together head up just as if she were in one of her dance or gymnastics classes directly next to her   
target scooping up the parchment in a single lightning gesture Lilly turned ready for another speedy   
escape only to find her way bared by her livid and disgusted sister Lilly knew it was no good she was   
trapped, cornered but she tried any way fruitlessly dodging petunias attacks her slim lithe body   
whipping around and to the side ducking to avoid first a fist then a heavy booted foot her penetrating  
now haunted emerald gaze was frantic it was fixed hopelessly on the door but it was no good Lilly felt  
sick, she felt claustrophobic, she was caged like an animal at the zoo.   
  
Lilly hated being trapped or enclosed there was no escape in a cage, and there was no escape now!  
Petunia landed her first blow then her second shrieking all the time about her disgrace to the family   
and their good name soon the intense pain blurred together kick, punch, slap or scratch Lilly could   
only curl up in her corner protecting her head with her hands and arms as blow after blow rained   
down on her and wait for it to be over. Semi conscious and dazed Lilly barely registered the ending   
of the attack as the pain didn't leave her, it didn't even fade slightly, the dull ache of burses and sharp  
stings of a cut lip and multiple scratches from petunias vicious claws throbbed mercilessly and Lilly   
didn't even have the energy or the inclination to move. She moaned dully and petunias hooked nose   
and beady eyes swam into her field vision she blinked feeling numbly surprised as more tears tricked   
from her cloudy expressionless eyes, she hadn't thought she still had it in her to cry but heedless of   
Lilly's exhaustion and pain the tears kept falling in warm rivulets on her now very white face and   
soaking into a white lily in the carpets floral pattern; it was after Lilly registered this irony that Petunia   
finally spoke…finally? Was it though? How long had Petunia been staring into her now almost vacant   
face? seconds? Minuets? Hours? Time had merged into a spiraling pool neither passing nor standing   
still simply there, beating in time with the pulsing throbs of her battered body and stopping her   
slipping completely into the void of unconsciousness.   
  
Petunia was talking now but Lilly just court her last words said with an utter loathing which matched   
the expression on her pug like horse face   
  
"You WITCH!" she spat "you are no longer my sister" and with that the girl who was once Lilly's   
older sister stalked out of the room and a few seconds later Lilly herd her bedroom door slam and   
then her brain swam in a final whirl of colors then sank listless into the blackness that was now almost  
familiar she welcomed it, letting its nothingness fill her, cover her, hold her, here she was safe, here   
there was no pain, no fatigue, here there was nothing, safe, protective, nothing.  
  
Lilly woke up around 2 am and she hurt her body was one wholeness of pain! she felt as if her ribs   
were broken and that someone was hammering the inside of her head with granite ice picks finally   
she sat up feeling woozy and giddy-sick it passed soon enough and the earlier events came flooding   
back to her looking at her tightly clenched fist Lilly found she still held her Hogworts letter; her slow   
witted ex-sister hadn't had the brains to take it from her even though she dived back past Petunia   
risking the beating she had ended up getting just to reach this letter. It was then that Lilly thanked god   
for her own sister…no that wasn't right was it, not now any way! She thanked god for PETUNIAS  
ignorance and idiocy. Then a thought struck her Lilly's resolve never to pompously hurt family…did   
it still hold now petunia had declared herself no longer related to Lilly? Brushing aside these thoughts  
for later consideration and holding her letter like the life line that it was Lilly reached a decision, and,   
dragging her weary feet every muscle, sinew and tendon screaming its agonizing protest she found her  
trunk and went to pack.   
  
Once she had done that she washed her face and tended to her injuries a quick glance in the mirror   
told her that thankfully no brushing had come up on her face. Yet! Brushing her hair Lilly called a cab  
masquerading as her mother and gave instructions that her 'daughter' Lilly should be collected from   
their family home in Privet Drive next to Magnolia Crescent and drive her to the nearest train station   
as soon as possible, the woman on the phone stated that the taxi would collect Mrs. Evans 'daughter'  
in about five minuets thanking her Lilly replaced the receiver and went into the kitchen where she   
wrote her mother and father a long informative letter including all the information from her Hogworts   
letter and stating that she would contact them as soon as she reached her new lodgings, she knew of   
course what they would say because it was what they always said 'that's nice dear'. Rolling her eyes   
and signing her note Lilly just had time to make sure she had packed everything she owned that wasn't  
nailed down and have a quick glance in the hall mirror and then a muffled horn sounded outside and   
Lilly made her slow deliberate and most of all silent way out of her house closing the door gently so   
as not to arouse the now snoring Petunia. She duble-checked the locked door, pocketed the key and   
between her and the taxi driver managed to deposit her trunk in the back then she strapped her self in   
and the driver started the engine. She would pay both the cabbie and her train fair with her mothers   
credit card number which both Lilly and Petunia were told to memorize in case of emergencies then   
once in London as obviously that's where she was headed she would empty her bank account and  
find some where to stay. 'Well' Lilly thought philosophically as she watched the familiar scenery flash  
by   
'at least I'm not board any more!'  
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A/N: so? What did you guys think? Its no good asking if you want another chapter coz it is   
already up PLEASE tell me what you think! If you have reviewed the first one of these has my   
re-posting improved it? Have I missed anything?  
PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!!!  
Goddess bless luv Aurora xxx  



	2. Ch - Of conversations, Confessions and C...

THANK YOU:  
This is my little thank you to all those who reviewed my last chap  
  
Destiny's Angel - Thanx, glad you like it! And see? I did write more!  
  
JoyofPotter - Thanx and thanx for liking it and telling me so (- does that even MAKE sense?) I   
hope this re-post fixes my entire lack of paragraphs and punctuation. I now know   
how rite your,paragraphs really ARE our friends ;)! And also I thanx for telling me   
how to spell Lily I didn't know (no I Am not being sarcastic) but I like spelling it   
my way...sorry! (no offence or anything)  
  
"§" Channy Hoppy "§" - Sorry it was hard to read but I think me and my incredible lack of skill  
with comps have worked out how to get it to upload rite without getting   
rid of all the line spacing. ** Crosses fingers** also as far as I can tell I   
have fixed any spellings and grammar etc but please tell me if I have   
missed anything. And WOW thanx 4 putting me on your favorites, I will   
read your fic too, ecstatic u like it (hey that was almost a rime) enjoy the  
next chap  
  
Phoenix_vs_crazy_snow - Thanx like way cool review too! I did keep writing so you keep  
reading ok?  
  
Ariana - Hopefully this time I got the paragraph thing down! Thanx for reviewing glad you liked it   
enjoy the rest of it.  
  
Nazgulette () - thanx for your review and I like that you said it was descriptive I like doing   
descriptive writing no you didn't sound like an English teacher you sound like a   
very nice kind reviewer type person.  
If i have left you of my thank you's please dont heitate to tell me thankyou te EVRY ONE gonna   
shut up now!  
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Firstly if you recognise anything in this from the names to the setings to the plot it isnt mine!!!   
  
IMPORTANT PEASE READ  
that includes if it belongs to JKR or to another fan fiction writer as i have read soooooooo many  
MWPP and Lily fics i dont even know what are my oridional ideas any more so if you recognise   
a bit and think i am copying you e-mail me on alannah15@hotmail.com and tell me and i will   
label that bit as yours or if you realy dont want it in there i will deleat it! Sorry to any one who's idea  
i have used...dont sue coz i have nothing to give you!  
  
also i have said it once i will say it again my speeling is bad, my grammer is worse and i am having   
trouble uploading coz it condences evrything and gets rid of all paragraphs and line spacing etc  
dont tell me that those things are wrong coz i know and i have done my best so i am afraid you will  
just have to cope...sorry!!!   
That is unless you are volentering to be my betta reader for both harry Potter fics and Tamora  
Pierce onse or just one of the two! Or if any of you wonderfull people want to send me the idiots  
guide on how to upload in html or htm format. I mean REALLY basic step by step instructions!  
well if you will help with eather of those say so in the review box or e-mail me at   
Alannah15@hotmail.com   
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Ch 2: Conversations, Confessions and Collisions   
  
A kindly looking man woke Lily when they reached Kings Cross station, she thanked him and he  
helped her off the train with her trunk, she thanked him again and they parted ways.   
The excitement coursing through Lily was making her light headed but she was a little apprehensive  
too, only now was the possibility occurring to her that the owl letter may have just been a cruel  
joke, cursing her self for not thinking of it before Lily resolved to find out one way or another   
being as she was here now any way.   
  
Following the directions on her Hogworts letter Lilly easily found 'the leaky cauldron' and barely  
had time to wonder why she had never noticed a small, rather dilapidated, public house next to the  
record store on any of her other shopping trips to London before she stepped into the confusing  
medley of noise and people (at least what Lily assumed to be people but with some of them she   
wasn't so sure.) She was still staring around dazedly clutching her heavy trunk with a white   
knuckled hand when a large almost toothless, but friendly, looking man wearing a stained apron   
appeared before her - glancing at her trunk he said   
  
"So its Hogworts then miss?" Lily could only nod. It was just then that a jaw-cracking yawn swept  
over her and forced her to find her voice; covering her mouth politely she waited till the wave of  
tiredness passed then said   
  
"Um please sir, might I have a room for tonight in fact until Monday?" she enquired timidly   
  
"Call me Tom," stated her host with finality and again Lily simply nodded.   
  
"Have you no sense Tom?" demanded a stern voice "cant you see the child's hungry and she's  
asleep on her feet poor might!" Both Lily and Tom turned to face a medium height woman with   
black shoulder length hair and a kind face - she wasn't slim but she didn't seem overly heavy either,  
and she held her self with such command and poise that Lily knew instinctively she had to be a  
mother. Turning an impassive face to the stern looking lady Tom seemed to look up at her   
imposing figure though in actual fact Tom was the taller of the two.   
  
"She has just asked for a room Mrs. Black," he informed her but Mrs. Black wasn't really listening  
but bustling about Lily   
  
"Good, good" she said absently "then be so good as to take her trunk and prepare one for her "   
dutifully Tom obeyed taking Lily's trunk and leaving her in Mrs. blacks capable hands.   
"Now then dear what's your name?" asked the older woman in a much softer tone, Lily was to tired  
to be nervous she simply said "Lily Flower Evans" with a worm motherly smile Mrs. black lead  
Lily over to a corner table saying "I know Sirius is always hungry and you…" the portly lady  
paused mid sentence to eye lily's slight frame for emphasis before continuing "you look like you  
wouldn't hurt for a meal or two your self" remembering her manors at last Lily stood up from the  
seat Mrs. black had directed her to sit in as she spoke and said   
  
"No I couldn't possibly I can pay for my own food and I certainly cant let you go and make it and  
wait on me at this time of night, you don't even know me!"   
  
"Now Lily" the woman admonished "its no trouble honestly" Lily was now shaky on her feet and   
everything in front of her was blurring as her sleep addled brain rebelled and refused to allow the  
exhausted girl to take in any thing else. Still Lily found the strength to thank Mrs. black and offer to  
provide any help she required, though by now the red head was swaying on the spot, the older   
woman gave her a beatific almost patronizing smile and gently pressed her back into her recently  
vacated chair and bustled away to doubtless find the kitchens.  
  
"So" said a boy sitting opposite her, she hadn't really noticed him before but Mrs. black   
(presumably this boys mother) had refereed to him as 'Sirius'   
  
"So" she echoed nothing showing in her voce or her face and then the boy grinned, he had the   
most infectious grin Lily had ever seen she found her self helplessly returning his smile and looking  
into his dark shadowy eyes which shone with fun and mischief, what ever he saw in her face must  
have pleased him too because he said   
  
"Hi I am Sirius as you may have gathered" his voice was worm, friendly, kind: all things Lily wasn't   
used to hearing often   
  
"Hi" she replied, "I guess you know by now but I am Lily"   
  
"Ahh said the other," striking a dramatic pose and staring into the jade green depths of her eyes  
"not even the flower she is named for can surpass the beauty I see before me" the statement was  
intended to be joking and silly but with every word he said Sirius found him self more and more  
bedazzled by the sight of the figure opposite him illuminated in torch and fire light only. He liked  
her immediately, her sense of fun and mischief radiated of her in waves but there was another thing   
too…. something, something else. The stunned boy new no more than that as he spiraled   
downward, entranced, falling into the pools of glowing green and noticing the little flecks of silver,   
which on anyone else would have looked odd, but on Lily it just looked right and served only to   
make her even more stunning.   
  
Lily, who's normally porcelain skin had acquired a distinctly rosy tinge at the complement, and the   
stare of the boy who gave it, now shook her self and laughed liking this boy on site. The quiet   
giggle seemed to awaken her comrade as intended, and then he, too, shook himself.   
  
Looking up Lily saw his Mrs. Black returning with, what seemed to Lily, enough food to feed an   
army, seeing the direction of her gaze Sirius bounced over to help his mother unload the food on to  
the table.  
  
Lily hadn't eaten since she had left and found her appetite immediately at the sight of the food with  
a quick 'thank you' to its provider Lily began the systematic destruction of the huge potion in front   
of her. Lily ate quickly and neatly clearing her plate in almost record time, she hadn't realized how   
hungry she had been until she began to eat, however if Lily thought she had wolfed her food down   
she had nothing on Sirius: he was done almost before she had raised her fork and had finished   
seconds then thirds before Lily had even finished her first helping, distinctly unsurprised by her   
sons antics Mrs. Black patently doled out the food as and when he asked for it, occasionally   
scolding him for his manors when eating. Feeling bloated lily sat back placing her knife and fork   
side by side in her almost empty plate, the moment the cutlery was out of her hands Sirius   
demanded   
  
"Are you gonna eat that?" laughing and realizing why Mrs. Black had made so much food Lily   
gladly handed her plate, with her remaining food, over to the boy while marveling at the quantity he   
seamed able to consume so fast and thanked Mrs. black profusely for the meal. Sirius, who seemed  
to have finally eaten enough echoed her statement fervently, flushed at the two children's praise the   
older woman said   
  
"So Lily we are going into diagonally tomorrow to get Sirius and James their school stuff they is  
starting Hogworts this September too."   
  
"That is going to make for an…interesting couple of years!" mumbled Sirius under his breath and   
received an icy glare for his trouble so he wisely shut up. Deciding not to ask, just then, who James  
was Lily hit on another problem  
  
"In, in my letter" she began hesitantly  
  
"Yes dear" Mrs. black prompted encouragingly,  
  
"Well it mentioned what I guess is money as rough estimates for the prices of my school things   
except, well, it must be a different currency to what we, well non-wizard people" Lily was   
floundering  
  
"Muggles" supplied Sirius helpfully  
  
"Muggles" she repeated giving him a grateful smile which brought color to his cheeks "well" she  
continued "I guess we…well they must use different money to you…or us" Lily was tired and her   
brain wasn't cooperating and she was flustered. Coming to her rescue Mrs. black finished for her  
  
"And you only have muggle money!" it wasn't a question but Lily nodded mutely any way "well not  
to worry said the cheerful woman you can get your money changed at Gringots. It's a wizarding  
bank love," she added to clarify. Still mute Lily nodded to show her understanding, anything more  
than that seemed like far too much effort just then,   
  
"Its run by goblins" put in Sirius; forgetting her fatigue Lily sat bolt up right a wide-eyed and almost  
uncomfortably intense stare fixed on the supplier of this shocking and fascinating information:   
Sirius! He squirmed uncomfortably the beam of her flashing excited green eyes that held him like a   
dear in a head-light, then he shrugged and Lily's new found energy left her as quickly as it had come   
and she slouched back in her chair her unnerving yet beautiful eyes again obscured by heavy tired   
lids and thick dramatic eye lashes. Feeling the sudden urge to win her approval like that again he   
said, "you never know you could have a Family Trust Vault there any way!"   
  
"A what?" she asked sleepily   
  
"A family trust vault" repeated the boy then he launched into an explanation "when a muggle born   
witch or wizard receives a Hogworts letter they can go to Gringots and find out if they have a vault.  
You see it started a long time ago it is kind of like a hand-me-down from your ancestors, every   
witch or wizard in your family can with draw enough money to get them through school curtsy of  
there mugle born magical ancestors and when they receive their first wage packet the put a   
percentage back into the vault and any more they wish to add over time so that when ever the next   
young witch or wizard is discovered in their muggle family they can have the benefits and money   
their predecessor had! See?"  
  
"Its actually a very good idea" Mrs. Black put in, "a lot of wizarding families are starting similar   
vaults so they have the money saved to put their children through school." Lily was still skeptical   
and said  
  
"I don't think there have been any more witches or wizards in our family before me"  
  
"You'd be surprised dear, what you'd find in your family tree"   
  
"Ok then how do I find out if I have one of these vaults?" the red head asked still not entirely   
believing  
  
"Oh that's easy" it was Sirius again "you cant use names because names change with marriage and  
stuff so its done by magic" the mention of magic immediately caught Lily's attention, seeing that she  
was hanging on his every word Sirius smiled and continued "you just stand before a large filing   
cabinet type thing and state your full name and address then if you have a vault the appropriate   
draw in the cabinet will open and a card with something on flies to the goblin in charge and from   
there you will be taken to your vault"  
  
"Its that easy?" she demanded awe struck  
  
"Yup"  
  
"So what is on the card, you know the one that flies out if you have a vault?"  
  
"No one knows the goblins guard their secrets well, all I know is that it is something that identifies  
you and directs them to your vault."  
  
"It has your key on though, to your vault I mean" Mrs. black had decided to take part in this   
conversation "and in your vault is a list of all the inputs and withdrawals since the vault was opened,  
you of course will by then have been added to the list yourself, so you may find out a bit about   
your family tree too, you never know" This was a lot to take in and it was now the early hours of   
the morning, so, again Lily simply nodded. Seemingly reading her mind Mrs. black gave them each  
a key and shoed them of to find there rooms and get some sleep assuring lily her luggage was   
already there, gratefully she accepted the key and followed Sirius.  
  
The exhausted pair made their way slowly up the stairs to where, according to Sirius, the rooms   
were. They finally made it to the top and Lily looked ad the doors around her and saw gold  
numbers glowing on each mahogany surface, noting the number she was standing by, Lily referred   
to the key ring on her room key to find out what number her room was.  
  
"Um…Sirius?" she asked, with any one else Lily may have felt ignorant or self-conscious but not   
with this boy.   
  
"Yeah -" he asked but the words died in his throat, he was gaping at her, she was silhouetted   
against a torch in a bracket but the door they had just come through only her figure was discernible  
and her flashing green eyes. Damn! he thought I'm in love!   
"Sirius?" Lily asked again noticing him being in some kind of trance. He shook him self-feeling   
embarrassed  
  
"Um… sorry!" he muttered but she only shrugged and Sirius felt comfortable again. Instantly   
resuming his exuberance her realized she wanted help finding her room a there were no room   
numbers on the keys. He grinned and threw his key up, Lily frowned confused but then his key   
began to glow illuminating the aria around him with a steady blue light, as it hovered directly by the   
boys head it shot out a thin blue cord which led of in another direction "just follow the line" he said.   
Lily did the same and soon both keys glowed directing the way to their rooms.  
  
Sirius let Lily walk a little ahead of him so he could admire her as she walked without anyone being   
any the wiser, all to soon they reached their doors, which to there mutual delight were side by side.   
Shaking himself out of his Lily/love induced daze he heard his companion say  
  
"Well good night then," she smiled a smile that made his insides melt and began to fiddle with her   
lock.  
  
When Lily didn't hear either an answer or the sound of another key and lock she looked up, Sirius   
was standing there looking at her with such a crest fallen expression on his face that she almost had   
to laugh, he had a lock of black hair falling over his big pleading eyes and such a contrite   
expression on his face that he reminded her strongly of a lost little puppy dog in a shop window desperate for some one to love him, she could have killed him easier than refuse that look! Sighing Lily said, "ok, lets both go in our rooms and get ready for bed then you can bring your duvet in here and we will talk for a bit, How's that?" Sirius grinned from ear to ear and literally bounced with joy, now Lily thought about it he reminded her a lot of a dog or rather a young excitable puppy, for a moment she thought he would actually jump up and lick her face! Rolling her eyes Lily entered her room and began to get ready for bed.   
Just as the girl entered her room there was a knock on the adjoining wall, amused Lily asked  
  
"Yeah"  
  
"Be right back" came the reply  
  
Still smiling Lily began her evening rituals; she looked around for her trunk and saw it just inside her  
door. She went over and took out her wash bag and bed things then she washed her face in the   
basin in the corner of her room and brushed her teeth. After that she changed into a pair of fairly   
short simple black cotton cycling shorts (not hot pants) and a large baggy mottled gray and white   
T shirt then she sipped her very small feet into a pair of size one gray and white fluffy bunny   
slippers and unwound her hair from its day time braid in favor of the bun she wore it in at night.  
  
Just then there was a knock at the door so Lily lent over and opened it and Sirius's jaw dropped!   
She stood there a cascade of vivid copper hair longer than anything she wore rapping her like a   
cloak and the light gray top and very black shorts complimented her slim supple figure and unusual   
coloring perfectly.  
  
Sirius could barely think his mind had simply blanked at the sight of her but this time Lily didn't   
notice she was to busy laughing at Sirius's own appearance. Still giggling she opened the door   
farther and, stepping out of the way then ushered him into her room. Sirius moved on auto-piolate  
still gaping and only when she continued to laugh did the high, happy, innocent sound awaken him   
and it was then her looked to find the souse of her amusement, she had a beautiful laugh he thought  
as he did so!  
  
It was easy to discover what Lily found so funny, he had on the same fluffy gray and white bunny   
slippers that she wore only in a much larger size, he smiled and said, "They were a present, from  
my little sister she thought they were cute, and I happen to agree with her." Lily laughed again;   
Sirius found he liked to make her laugh, he put on a fake girly voice and struck a model pose saying  
  
"I rather like them and I here animal foot were is very this season" Lily giggled, encouraged by this   
Sirius continued with a fake frown, looking down he said in an even more exaggeratedly feminine   
voice: "but be honest…." A dramatic pause then, "does my bum look big in this?" Examining his   
feet closely he shook them so that the stuffed rabbit heads on the toes nodded limply "see? They   
agree! Oh I am such a blimp I will just have to go on a diet" then with a final melodramatic gesture   
he cried, "oh wow is I!" then collapsed onto Lily's bed in a fit of hysterics. It was a full five minutes  
before either of them could stop laughing long enough to speak but finally Lily looked up with tears   
of mirth streaming down her flushed cheeks and asked  
  
"Wow is I? Isn't it meant to be oh wow is me?" Drawing him self up importantly Sirius intoned in a  
mock serious, pompous voice  
  
"I use proper grammar young lady!" before relapsing into laughter again.  
  
"You sound like my old head master" Lily gasped, breathless from laughing till her sides hurt,   
"in fact they were both worryingly good impressions!"  
  
Sitting next to her Sirius lifted an eye brow then assured her, smiling "its ok; I have older brothers   
and sisters!  
  
"Ah I see!" Lily said giving a fake sigh of relief and wiping imaginary sweat from her for head with   
a tiny hand. Then she asked, "What are there names?"  
  
"Peter is the eldest he is 22 and has a job and his own house and feels that makes him 'oh so   
superior' to the rest of us! Shame he couldn't have got his 'own house' some where a bit further   
away…like the north pole! Mary is ok she is 15 and nice enough though she is obsessed by her   
weight and can be annoying too sometimes, she is in her forth year at Hogworts. And Lucy is the   
youngest, I have as little to do with her as possible, enough said!"  
  
"So you're the spoilt middle child?" Lily teased and Sirius stuck out his bottom lip and pouted,  
  
"Am not!" he sulked in a babyish spoilt voice.  
  
"Another scarily good impression there Siri" was her reply  
  
"I had a good teacher, Lil" he stressed the nickname letting her know he had noticed her shortening  
of his name before continuing "it's the spoilt youngest in our house as you can probably tell."  
  
"Not in ours!" muttered Lily darkly, her smile falling from her face, but she left it at that.  
  
There was a worm fire in the grate and they both got there duvets and pillows then sat propped up   
against the end of her bed very close to the blaze. They settled comfortably and Sirius asked  
  
"So where are your parents? How did you end up here at this time of the morning all alone?" The   
question was bluntly put but Lily didn't mind, and she replied in the same fashion with no pre amble  
simply stating  
  
"I ran away" Sirius gaped, and seeing this Lily clarified "my sister, Petunia" the boy noticed the   
bitter tone with which Lily said the hated girls name but decided not to mention it yet "she is   
eighteen so mum and dad went out leaving her to look after" again the bitterness penetrated the   
small girls speech "me, and we have other family on our street who we could go to for help"  
  
"When will your parents be back?" asked Sirius  
  
"Not till late tomorrow…or rather today" she amended glancing at the clock "Any way the owl with  
my letter came, and Petunia was…'not best pleased' and I doubt my parents would notice if I'm   
there or not, and my letter said I could stay here so I left in a taxi to the station took a train to   
London then a bus to the top of the road and walked the rest of the way." He was still awe struck   
by this feat but she waved it away with a casual hand adding only "I had too!"  
  
They talked for a while more telling each other about hobbies, homes and friends, laughing about   
the things they had done with there magic before they had got the letter, made all the funnier by the   
fact that Lily grew up around muggles, and the pair discovered there mutual love for practical joking.  
By the time they finally finished talking the fire had died down to glowing embers and the two   
children were firm friends!   
  
The remains of the fire were the only things lighting the room both inhabitants were very sleepy   
and far to comfortable to move, they squirmed for a moment or two finding comfortable positions   
then Lily snuggled up under her blankets, curling her small form up into a ball and tucking her teddy  
under one arm she laid her head on Sirius's chest and sighing she closed her eyes.  
  
Unfortunately this position but too much strain on her bruised and aching body, up until then her   
tiredness had only allowed her one thought at a time and had, to some extent, numbed her injuries   
but now the pain came back with full force! Thinking Sirius was asleep and trying not to wake him   
she winced and sat up two silent tears making tracks down her almost translucent skin, she tried a   
position to see if it hurt and hissed, biting her lip hard to keep from making any more sound as pain   
arrowed its way up from her right side. Suddenly strong comforting arms lifted her now trembling  
form into some ones lap and she felt herself being rapped in her covers again, she was held against   
a firm chest and large hands stroked her silky hair as she cried her self out, letting go all the anger,   
the frustration, the pain.  
  
When she had calmed down, gently Sirius lifted her from his lap where he had cradled her and,   
being care full not to put to much pressure on her injuries he laid her on the floor. Now he saw the   
mottled bruise on her leg, about the size of some ones foot, lifting her top a little way he saw   
another large bruise on her right hip, and then lifting her top a little further still he hissed in   
sympathy as he saw the pail expanse of her stomach adorned with bruises large and small. Still   
saying nothing he turned over her un protesting form and examined her back, shoulders, arms, and   
ribs finding the same there as on her stomach.  
  
His examination finished he picked her light figure up again, as easily as a rag doll and raped her   
back up in her blanket, re settling her in his lap he looked her in the eye and asked seriously  
  
"Who did this to you?" she looked away and muttered vaguely  
  
"No one, I fell down" Forcing her to look at him he insisted  
  
"Lily who was it?" his face was serious and black with anger as he said "I swear I will make them   
sorry!"  
  
"No!" she cried, then more calmly "no, I will tell you but you cant hurt her" Sirius looked un   
convinced but she insisted and he looked into her tear stained, expressive, beautiful face and knew  
he couldn't refuse her though he still didn't understand. After extracting this promise from him Lily   
pored out the whole story from start to finish including how she would never maliciously harm or   
incite harm on another member of her family and how her parents barely knew she was born and   
were never there.  
  
Sirius said nothing he just held her when she cried and rocked her like a baby nodding his   
understanding when it was necessary, then finally when he was done he simply whispered   
  
"Don't worry, I'll always be here when you need me, and that's a promise! Will you be okay?  
  
"Yeah" she replied, "its only bruising it should have gone down by the morning it usually does"  
  
"Yeah you said you heal fast maybe it's part of the magic you did to be accepted into Hogworts   
you some how learned a healing charm or something, they say your first magic comes out when   
you have need of it" he added darkly.  
  
"Maybe" she agreed then curled up in his lap and laid her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes  
with a sigh for a second time that night. This time they both sleped soundly, exhausted from both   
the evenings, or rather early mornings events and the lateness/earliness of the hour.  
  
This was howJames found them when at two o'clock in the after noon later that same day as he   
walked into the room finding the door had been left ajar and unceremoniously threw a spare pillow  
at the lump in the blankets, wondering briefly why exactly it was at the end of the bed. The pillow   
made contact and before the astonished boy knew what was happening the blankets exploded and  
a small red andgray fire bolt flew out of them and leapt at, and collided with him. James yelled and   
fell backwardswith the 'fire bolt' on his chest and looked up into the most beautiful face he had ever  
seen! Fiery tendrils dripped over the small girls shoulders and pooled on his clothes starkly   
contrasted to the tiny white hands that were firmly planted on his chest, her weight was minimal and  
James was sure he could stand up easily without needing to dislodge the form now attempting to   
pin him down.  
  
Then he made the mistake of looking up again into her petit artfully crafted porcelain doll face with  
the tiny button slightly turned up nose and the vibrantly red mouth against the pure unblemished   
delicately white skin marred only by a few orange-brown freckles dusting her nose and anger  
flushed cheeks. The pinioned boy had the impression of grate delicacy as though he might brake   
her with a touch but also of an underlying strength of body and of character that made her even  
more intriguing then her eyes caught his and held them, the extravagant copper eyelashes served   
only to make the forest green flashing gem like orbs seem infinitely large and of a depth un   
imaginable.  
  
If they were read by some one who knew her well James knew they would reflect her feelings like a  
mirror but now to him they held mystery, intrigue there hidden depths spoke of secrets and   
questions. Her intelligence was clear and her ability to learn as was her quick temper but underlying   
compassion, and unbendable will power her entire self spoke of mischief; and James was enthralled!  
One thousand questions streamed through his mind who was she? How did she know Sirius?  
What was she doing here? But then she spoke  
  
"Will you stop staring at me?" it was a demand not a question her voice held an authority that called  
him on the most basic level of his being to obey! "People have been doing that a lot lately she  
grumbled" more to herself than any one, Lily really wasn't a morning person.  
  
"Nuhh…" was all he could manage, James's mind had gone blank only one thought would register:   
she is perfect she had a musical entrancing almost hypnotic voice even when she was angry, he   
couldn't believe she was real! Still locked in a furias staring contest with the new comer the girl   
waited for his next move but then from behind she heard  
  
"James? Meet Lily!" in Sirius's sleepy but amused drawl, and he tossed the pillow that had woken   
the two, back at James.  
__________________________________________________________________________  
  
A/N ok so what did you think??? I did my VERY best to get this paragraphed and line spaced and  
stuff if it has been condenced during up loading there is nothing I can do!!! I only know how to up   
load txt format and any one who knows how to do it in html ot htm format i am begging you TELL  
MEEEEEEE!   
  
any way the next bit will be out soon i hope sorry for the delay on this one but would you prefere   
longer chapters and for it to take longer to come out or shorter chapters and for them to come out  
sooner tell me when you REVIEW!!!  
  
Please just take a couple of minuets to give me your honist opinion on this fic PLEASE though  
do try and tel we WHAT ia wrong with it as aposed to just that parts are wrong etc or how will I   
I improve??? Then you will have to put up with my writing at this standerd for ever MWA HA HA  
HA!!!  
  
ok gonna shut up now goddess bless u all luv Aurora xxx  
  
ps...PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REWIEW?!?!?!?!!?!?   



	3. Ch 3 - Meet the families

Ch 3 - Meet the families  
  
Narrowly avoiding the pillow that Sirius had launched at them the red headed tornado rolled of James's   
chest onto the floor beside him, the pillow sailed past her and hit the stunned boy square in the face!   
Lily couldn't help herself she giggled, then laughed and soon she had collapsed to the floor in full blown  
hysterics, James's face was just *too* funny!  
  
"Think that's funny?"   
he asked a malicious gleam creeping onto his handsome face, she nodded   
helplessly, he arched an eyebrow and launched the pillow strait back at her, there was no way she could  
have dodged that shot even if she *hadn't* been helpless with laughter at the time.   
  
"Oomph!"   
scrambling to her feet Lily backed off, still giggling but desperately trying to keep a strait   
face she said in a mock calming tone "now James, you don't *really* want to hit me with that pillow, so  
just put it down and we will all be friends" grinning James just continued his advance rising a   
questioning eyebrow and asking  
  
"Don't I? Coz I really think that I do!"   
it was clear he too was trying to contain his laughter. By now Lily had backed into the pile of blankets   
that had been their bed and began wildly floundering behind her back for a pillow amongst the debris   
of bedclothes and blankets. Just as she had one in her hand and was completely distracted by it for a   
moment, James seized the opportunity and loosed his ammo and she didn't even see it coming!   
  
Afterwards even Lily had to admit it was a classic, she reeled court unawares by James's attack and let   
go of the pillow she had managed to grab, laughing Sirius court her from behind and handed her a   
pillow but to his surprise she turned right around and hit him with it ducking behind his tall frame in time  
so that James's second pillow also hit Sirius who she was currently using as a human shield.   
  
"Oh!"  
he exclaimed trying to act heart broken and not laugh at the same time and succeeding in doing neither   
"that's the way it is, is it?"   
he continued in a vain attempt to sound betrayed then he rounded on Lily and James who were   
watching his performance with interest and stated evilly   
"this means *war*!"  
  
Surprisingly this didn't immediately have the required effect, as James seemed to consider this   
comment then said solemnly   
  
"A bit clichéd for my tastes but"   
dramatic pause and quick shift into a 'tough man' pose   
"your *on*!"   
  
Lily just shrugged and threw one of the pillows she had managed to grab during James's armature   
dramatics at him and quickly started hitting every part of Sirius she could reach with her other one.   
  
Avoiding a random shot from James's direction (which incidentally hit Lily in the stomach) Sirius   
reached into the heap of blankets and drew up a duvet, realizing what he had picked up was most   
defiantly *not* a pillow he proceeded to throw it over Lily's small frame covering her entirely, a   
muffled giggle from the blanket covered heap that was currently all that could be seen of Lily Flower   
Evens was the last at least *semi* sane thought any of the three had for at least the next half an hour.   
  
There were pillows soft toys slippers and anything else not too damaging that the groping hands could   
find as a weapon against the other two. There was a confusion of hands and arms in the mêlée as every  
one tried to fend off their attackers as well as land their own blows apart from the constant laughter   
filling the room the only other human sounds were the occasional 'oomph' or 'ow' as pillows hit their   
targets. One of the pillows must have burst; maybe more as there were feathers thick in the already   
crowded air occasionally you would catch a glimpse of Lily's startlingly bright hair or James's blue   
clad arm.   
  
Lily had no pain from her earlier injuries except when an especially hard pillow hit her right on the worst  
effected part of her ribs but she winced and it passed and was soon forgotten.  
  
Feathers literally flew - along with everything else in the room that wasn't nailed down - as the war raged  
on and none of the frantic children was willing to admit defeat.   
  
"JUST EXACTLY *WHAT* IS GOING ON HERE?"   
it was the universally recognized 'mother voice' even Lily who wasn't exactly overly experienced in the   
field of maternal attention recognized this voice instinctively. All three froze as Mrs. Black continued in   
a more normal voice and volume "I knew sending James up for you pair was a mistake" it was said with  
good natured humor and they all knew she wasn't really angry. Mrs. Black surveyed the heap of bodies   
somewhere to the right of the middle of the room and her amusement grew as she saw that Sirius had   
one arm around Lily's waist pinning her to his side though she still some how managed to find a free   
arm which held a pillow about three millimeters away from thumping her captor to get him to let her go,   
Sirius on the other hand seamed oblivious to the girl he held under his left arm as he was trying to hit a   
partially-duvet-covered James with a pillow in his free hand *and* defend his best friends attack *and*   
try not to fall as James also had both of Sirius's legs pinned to gather in an effort to make the other boy   
join him on the floor.   
  
They were like a still image none of them had moved since she had entered and a few stray feathers   
were floating down onto them like they were a plastic statuette inside a snow globe that someone had   
just shaken up.  
  
Just then James sneezed as a feather tickled his nose so he accidentally managed to pull Sirius over due   
to the hold he had on the other boys legs, as Sirius tripped, Lily managed to deliver her last   
almost-finished blow with her pillow, but though Sirius let go his arms pin wheeled as he fell and in a   
vein attempt to stay upright he grabbed Lily, needless to say all three ended up in a jumbled heap of   
arms legs and bed covers.   
  
The spell was broken and all the children laughed helplessly at their predicament as they tried   
unsuccessfully to untangle themselves from one another and the contence of the room.   
  
Mrs. Black tried to help, only causing them to get even tighter tangled up together, but eventually all   
four were standing in the middle of Lily's room at the 'Leaky Cauldron' brushing feathers from their   
clothes and holding their sides which *ached* from laughing so hard.  
  
With a quick wave of the wand that was never far from her hand Mrs. Black righted most of the room,   
made the beds and mended the split pillow, miraculously nothing was broken and no major damage had  
been done.   
  
Looking at all three and taking in their disheveled state and (in Lily Sirius's case) the fact that they were   
still in night things and said  
  
"Right then, you boys go next door and clean your selves up and Lily and I will do the same in here."   
Knowing better than to argue both boys trouped out leaving Living Lily and Mrs. Black together.  
  
"I guess I should go take a shower," Lily said sighing. "I feel like I have a dead *cat* on my head"   
  
the girl gingerly touched her vibrant spiraling locks and groaned, she knew with out even needing a   
mirror that her hair was 'big' to say the least.  
  
"Never you mind about that dear, you just wash it and I will show you something I used to do with my   
hair when I was a girl" comforted Mrs. Black smiling, Lily was a little skeptical but continued into the   
here-to-fore unnoticed en suite bathroom to take a shower.  
  
When she stepped out ten minuets later clad only in a towel the older woman beamed at her,  
  
"Well let's do a quick drying charm on you first" and with another wave of her wand the girl before her  
was dry.   
Lily quickly slipped back into the bathroom to throw her sleeping things back on so she didn't have to   
wear her towel the whole time then sat down on a small stool in front of a dressing table with a mirror in  
front of her and Mrs. Black behind her.   
  
"Right, now then a small straitening charm on your hair, hmm, would have worked better if your hair   
had have been wet but never mind now." Again a quick mumble and a wave of her wand was all it took   
Mrs. Black to straiten Lily's claret locks, her hair was extremely long after being straitened and it pooled  
on the floor behind the girls stool, Lily winced she had never seen her hair properly straitened before   
but as she cautiously opened her eyes and glanced in the mirror before her she was pleasantly surprised,  
she didn't look *That* different with strait hair except for the fact that it make her heart shaped face   
looked a little longer.   
  
"You will have to stand up Lily dear" she was told, and so she did; shiny, newly straitened hair   
wrapping her like a cloak reaching to the floor and then some. Eventually Sirius's mum had Lily   
standing on the vanity stool so that she had 'space to work' whatever that meant.   
"Now trust me Lily dear" Mrs. Black soothed as she unsheathed a pair of wicked looking black handled  
hairdressers scissors.  
  
Lily stiffened, but what could she do? Mrs. Black had been so nice to her she couldn't exactly *not* let  
Mrs. Black to what ever she was planning to do to Lily's hair so she just closed her eyes and waited   
preying it wouldn't be too bad.   
  
To her surprise when she opened her eyes after Mrs. Black had finished, what she saw in the mirror   
wasn't all that different to what had been there when she first closed here eyes. Her iron strait hair now   
had more bounce, it looked even thicker than it was naturally and had been feathered around her face   
but that was the entire changes Lily could find in her appearance.  
  
"Um…" she began hesitantly "wha - What did you do?" Mrs. Black chuckled and said   
  
"Don't you ever wish that some days you could have shorter hair? Well now you can and you don't   
even have to cut it, of course you will have to learn the straitening charm first before you can do it on   
you own"   
seeing the bewildered look on Lily's face she said   
"here let me show you" and the girl watched fascinated as Mrs. Black grabbed a bull dog clip from the   
dressing table and lifted about the top third of the girls hair which Lily now realized had been layered   
and the amount Mrs. Black had separated (and clipped up in a haphazard twisted tuft on top of Lily's   
head to keep it out of the way) was at its longest down to Lily's slim waist. The rest of the almost   
scarlet tresses were neatly twisted into a long thin 'bun' type sausage that was held in place with a single  
hair pin and lay stretching from a little in from the girls right ear to a little in from her left one, then Mrs.   
Black released the rest of the hair letting it fall covering the neat snake of hair on the back of Lily's head.  
  
Lily gapped! She couldn't believe it; it really looked as though her hair was strait and stopped just   
above her waist, as realistic as if it had been cut to that length. Smiling, the older woman released the   
pin holding the bun and let the rest fall down, she then took only the top couple of layers of the girls   
hair and tucked the rest into a slightly fatter snake on the back of her head re securing it with the pin and  
now it looked for all the world as though Lily's hair only fell just to her shoulders.   
  
Mrs. Black spent a little while teaching the girl how to do this by her self, and she was nowhere near as   
good at is her teacher Mrs. Black assured her practice would help and also said that if she wanted her   
hair to be curly she could take the straitening charm off the top layer that was showing after all the rest   
was safely tucked into the bun, but again that would take practice. Lily had often wanted to try new cuts  
with her hair but her hair was about the only thing her mother noticed about her. At all!   
  
Whenever she was home Delia Evens would sit and brush her youngest daughters luxuriant hair and try   
it in different styles and when she was away she would always come back with some 'gift' of a hair   
bobble or a new trinket for use in Lily's hair, so for obvious reasons the girl never cut it.   
  
Then Lily struck on a snag:   
"What if I want to tie it up?" She asked, "then it would show the rest in a bun on my neck."   
  
Instead if looking perplexed Mrs. Black smiled saying "My you are quick aren't you? Well if you want   
to tie it up try some of these styles." And Mrs. Black set about showing her how to double the three   
strands of hair used in a plat, concertinaing them like she was folding ribbon, her hands clearly knew   
what they were doing showing that she had done this numerous times before, she carefully pinned each   
prepared third making sure that the ends were at the bottom of the plat then she nimbly placed one   
strand over the other in a familiar plating pattern and picked up two miss matched elastics to secure   
the ends, and again for all the world it looked as though that was the true length of Lily's hair, only the   
tell tale thickness of each short braid gave the possible impression that there was more hair contained   
within the plat that their looked to be.   
  
When she had taught Lily to do her plats like this to all different lengths in both a single plat down her   
back or one on each side she set about showing her how to arrange smaller tighter buns at the base of   
both a low and high ponytail that were easily covered as the hair that was meant to be showing hung   
from the bobble over it.   
  
After Lily had attempted this style too (she managed it to an extent, but it was messy and didn't look as   
good as when Mrs. Black had done it for her.) the older lady excused herself and left Lily to get ready   
for the day offering to help with anything she needed.  
  
Having thanked Mrs. Black Lily started going through her trunk deciding what to wear. She thought   
about it and decided on the 'tough chick' look put on a pair of low slung comfortable quite baggy and   
slightly flared combats (A/N: cargo pants to all you non-British people) that were white and light blue   
decorated in 'camouflage' patterns (eg random splurges of blur on a white background all over the   
place).   
She coupled these with a sleeveless (yes *sleeveless* not strappy (A/N: spaghetti strapped no the   
non-British) it was sleeveless meaning it had shoulders just that at the point where the selves would be   
sewn on there were no sleeves…see?) army green hooded top that was over locked around the arm   
holes and round neckline and hem in bright serece pink glittery thread and in 'spray painted' letters   
across the front was written (also in sparkly serece pink) the words 'Army Babe'. Looking at her hair   
she decided on just-past-shoulder-length messy chunky plats, it took her a while but on the third   
attempt she had a passable hairstyle which she secured with her 'lily flower' bobbles from last night,   
then as an after thought she guessed where abouts within her plats the right length piece of hair would   
be then she carefully pulled one out each side to frame her face, of course this messed up her plats   
even further but that was ok because it went with the look, the pieces she had managed to pull out   
were about waist length and longer than she would have liked so she wet them from the tap and wound   
each piece around a finger and sat there waiting for it to dry.   
  
After a few minuets she unwound the strands (the tips of her fingers were going blue) and there hung   
two perfectly formed tight copper ringlets on either side of her face, a matching sparkly pink hair pin   
(curby grip) was slid in to stop them falling in her face too much and glancing in the mirror Lily smiled,  
'just how she wanted it to look' she thought happily to herself.   
  
Usually Lily wasn't a vein person but she wanted to make a good impression on these people…*her*   
people so she reached for her meager supply of make up and put on a bit of tinted lip gloss and touch   
of glittery pink 'sparkle dust' eye shadow and clear mascara and finally a spritz of body spray and some  
'glitter body gel' on her cheek bones and she was done, Lily ran to her door of her room stuffing her   
feet into her old comfy trainers on the way out and vowing not to take this long to get ready all the time   
or she would end up like Petunia!   
  
(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)  
  
Mean While in the boys' room  
  
"Wow" said James, "she really is something"   
  
"Yeah" agreed Sirius dreamily   
  
"So you like her then?"   
  
"Of course I like her I just agreed that she 'really is something' didn't I?"  
  
"That's not what I meant! I mean do you *like* her?"  
  
"Well I um…"  
  
"Sirius is in looooooove, Sirius is in loooooove" james sang dancing around the room  
  
"Shut up before I punch you," growled a *very* red Sirius  
  
"Ok, ok sorry, but you are gonna ask her out right?"  
  
"Yeah I guess so"  
  
"Good coz if you don't make a move soon *I* will and that's not even counting the *entire* male   
population at Hogworts who will agree with me, she is *hot*!!!"  
  
"There is more to her than looks you know!" Sirius was angry; while Lily was *beautiful* she was an   
equally wonderful person and besides 'hot' seemed a degrading term to describe some one as radiant   
as *his* Lily as he now thought of her.  
  
"Yeah ok your right"  
  
"I love it when you say that! Will you say it again?"  
  
"No! But how many girls do you know that will sleep on the floor at the end of your bed and talk all   
night even though they are bone tired" (Sirius had filled James in on the basic outline of how the two of   
them had ended up how James found them)   
  
"Yeah" Sirius chuckled "I bet you didn't expect *that* reaction to throwing a pillow at 'me' to wake me   
up!" then Sirius's voice grew dreamy as he continued "she has a wicked sense of humor and a real   
flare for practical joking and mischief, she's good at sports so you never know she may develop a   
talent for quiditch and be on the teem with us" Sirius and James had already decided they would play   
on the quiditch teem as soon as they possibly could, James was an excellent seeker and Sirius was one   
hell of a beater.   
  
"Oh" Sirius continued "and she has plans on getting the most detentions anyone has ever got at   
Hogworts, she more than tripled the record at her old muggle school" (mostly because she would do   
anything to avoid going home Sirius added to him self but said nothing)   
  
"Sounds like you know this girls life history Sirius!" but his friend just shrugged in reply  
"but a detention record…hmm" she sounded as though he was musing over the possibility   
"I'd be up for that" he said after a moment   
"but only detentions from pranks count, I recon I could give this Lily chick," he ignored Sirius's un   
intentional growl of rage   
"a run for her money. Yup, he said finally this year is going to be *fun*!!!"   
  
Nodding and grinning gleefully Sirius bounded out of the door, but James hung back thinking that Lily   
was indeed one of a kind, and what he'd said was true, if Sirius didn't make a move on her soon he   
*would*!   
And you never know, it might not work out between the two of them anyway and until then, he smiled   
to himself, Hogworts would be *full* of girls to take his mind off her.  
  
"James? Are you *coming* Sirius' voice floated up the stairs   
  
"Yeah" he yelled back and, still smiling, walked down the stairs to meet the others.   
  
(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)  
  
On getting downstairs Lily found quite a cluster of people sitting with Mrs. Black but Sirius wasn't   
down yet and nor was James. She walked over and a little shyly and waited for some one to notice her.   
  
While she was waiting she had time to examine the group around Mrs. Black There were two boys who   
looked a lot like James and even more like each other, they were clearly twins, with the very messy   
black hair and chocolate brown eyes that apparently all James's family possessed. Sitting on Mrs.   
Black's lap was the only member of the group without black hair, she had a sandy gold plat snaking   
down to about the middle of her back (on closer inspection Lily decided that this was in fact the actual   
length of her hair) the girl had her back to Lily but she could tell the blonde was wearing denim   
dungarees that went over a plain white cotton tee shirt and ended in shorts as apposed to trousers,   
the girl looked to be a small five year old though she could have been big for a four year old,   
'Lucy Black' Lily guessed. The final person sitting at the crowded table looked to be in her mid teens   
with raven hair falling in thick waves loose until it just brushed her shoulders her skin was quite tanned   
and her eyes almost black, she wasn't skinny, but then like her mother, she wasn't fat either; indeed she seemed to have inherited her mothers build all over, 'Mary Black', Lily concluded.  
  
Just then Sirius came bounding down the stars doing a good impression of a heard of elephants.   
A large heard. Clog dancing!   
*Everyone* looked towards the cause of the din and Sirius took a bow, having looked up Mrs. Black   
saw Lily standing nervously at the back of the small crowd.   
  
"Lily dear, good morning" she looked at the style Lily had chosen for her hair and smiled her approval,   
Lily blushed and Mrs. Black gently rearranged a crocked clip that held her two curled front pieces back   
in a motherly fashion then ushered her into an empty chair.  
  
Blushing slightly Lily looked around at all the rest who were staring at her, not knowing quite what to   
say but thankfully Sirius came to her rescue  
  
"Everyone? This is Lily; Lily this is Skye and Blaze Potter (A/N: I love these names for 2 potter twins   
but I know I read them some where, who's ever they are I am using the names, if they belong to you   
please inform me so I can amend this chapter to give you credit for these characters where this note is   
now. If however you don't want me using them who ever you are tell me that to and I will of course   
make the appropriate changes, thank you.)   
As you can tell they are twins, they are James's older brothers and will be gong into their third year at   
Hogworts, both twins smiled their hello's with appreciative glances at Lily's pretty form, they seemed   
to be bright and out going, 'probably pranksters' the girl thought, they had that kind of air about them.   
  
The rest of the group were who she had guessed them to be and after Lily was sitting eating her toast   
Sirius yelled up at his best friend asking if he was *ever* planning on coming down stairs to join them.   
  
(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)   
  
James soon came bouncing down the stairs sounding like only *half* a heard of elephants. Grinning he   
sat beside his two older brothers and began to eat. After the huge portions she had consumed last night  
Lily only had one piece of toast and she left a few bits of that, she wasn't much of one for eating in the   
mornings anyway.  
  
"Lily dear!" Exclaimed Mrs. Black reprovingly, "is that all you are going to eat? No wonder you're the   
size you are."  
  
"My digestive system doesn't wake up until at lest two hours after the rest of me does, you'll see, I will   
make up for this" she waved a small hand in the direction of her plate with a few bits of toast left on it   
"when it does." Everyone smiled at this and talk soon turned to school  
  
"So you will be a first year with James and Sirius then?" Asked Skye…or was it Blaze? She guessed   
that with time she'd learn to tell them apart.   
  
"Yeah" replied James, looking at his brother as though that ought to have been obvious  
  
"So you are coming into Diagonally with us later then? To get your school things?" the twin seemed to   
be trying to ascertain how long the pretty red headed soon-to-be-first-year would be with them  
  
"If you don't mind" came her reply though it was all politeness really as Lily knew she would be   
shopping with Sirius and James whether this twin 'minded' or not "I am from a muggle family" she   
continued "so I don't really know what I am doing at all, I need some one there to show me the ropes"  
  
"You'll be fine Lil," said Sirius encouragingly giving her a grin "its third year where you take your new   
subjects isn't it?" this question was directed at the two twins   
  
"yeah" they agreed in unison "we took muggle studies, maybe you could help us there Lily" and a wink   
of a flirty teasing eye accompanied this statement "and arithmancy, I cant actually remember why I   
decided to take that now, and I am already regretting it, have you *seen* the *size* of the arithmancy  
books in 'Flourish and Blots?" Mrs. Black gave them one of her patented 'mother' looks and the other   
twin quickly added (non to convincingly)   
  
"Not that we went into Diagonally last night…quickly…for a look…while our rooms were being   
prepared …or anything as…*irresponsible* as that" and a charming grin finished off his ramble.   
Mrs. Black raised one eyebrow but left it at that, and her eyes were still smiling so she cant really have   
been that angry  
  
Seeing that the black haired teenager had yet to speak, she seemed quite shy and quiet, which surprised   
Lily looking at the rest of the family, so looking at the eldest of the Black children she asked  
  
"So…Mary isn't it?" the girl nodded   
"what year will you be going into" the youngest of the two pressed   
  
"Forth" it was almost a whisper and the girls sole full dark eyes begged Lily to leave her be and let her   
continue trying to bend into the scenery and Lily, shrugging turned her attention back to the rest of the   
group.  
  
The varies discussions around the table were silenced quickly as the small girl on Mrs. Blacks lap let   
out a wail and pushing herself out of her mothers hug ran out of the room. Instinctively Lily followed.  
  
When she caught up to the fleeing child it was up the staircase that lead to the rooms and down one of   
the corridors  
  
"What's the matter?" panted Lily as she caught up to the small blond crying and huddled on the floor  
  
"Go away" spat Lucy spitefully, she looked petulant and was clearly sulking  
  
"What did *I* do?" asked Lily clearly taken aback by this attack, and then Lucy Black looked up at her   
and Lily got a surprise: while Lucy had the pail skin and blond hair she didn't have the blue eyes that   
usually went with such a completion in fact she had almost clear gray eyes, not gray blue, but steely ice   
gray eyes. Noticing her expression change the other girl looked smug saying  
  
"Yes, *Lily*" she crowed "your not the only one with unusual eyes"  
  
"You have very nice eyes" Lily complemented hoping to find out why this girl seemed to hate her so,   
privately Lily thought that this five year old was very pretty but her eyes seemed so cold and filled with   
malice that it detracted from her whole appearance. The girls' look still did not soften so Lily decided to  
be blunt, and sitting down on the floor beside her companion she asked  
  
"You clearly hate me" she stopped to lock her powerful gaze with her adversary before asking,   
"Why is that?"  
  
"Why is that?" echoed the other incredulously "why is that?" she repeated growing in rage the girl no   
longer held Lily's intense stare but got up and started to pace "before *you* came I was the only girl,  
well" she amended "other than Mary, but no one really notices her" Lily thought back to the black   
haired tanned girl with slightly haunted black eyes that begged anyone looking into them to leave her alone and silently wondered why Mary was so introverted and shy "any way" the pacing child continued "then *you* came along and they all notice *you* and no one even *spoke* to me! And Blaze said that about you helping him with his muggle study's" it occurred to Lily that the small child had a crush on James's older brother, and was used to being the only girl around that he noticed. "You aren't even one of us, our mums were friends from when *they* went to Hogworts and we have known each other since *forever* and you just come along, and every one notices you *Blaze* notices you"   
"Listen," Lily said realizing how right Sirius was when he said it was the 'spoilt youngest child in his   
family' and that 'he had as little to do with her as possible'   
  
"I didn't mean to make everyone notice me, you know, its just that I met your mum and Sirius when I   
got here really early this morning and I was tired and I didn't know what to do, she helped me out and   
Sirius and I became friends that's all" the red head was trying to be rational and take into account threat   
the other person in this conversation was a spoilt five year old but it was very hard to do considering   
Lily possessed a true red-heads temper and that this particular 'spoilt five year old' was looking at her   
through steely eyes as though she were something the cat had brought in. Fighting to keep her voice   
steady she continued "and I think they were all just being polite down stairs any way, I need some one   
to help me out I have to go and buy potions ingredients and magic wands from a place I have never   
*heard* of let alone know how to get to, and that's without going to Gringots or what ever its called,   
so can we call it quits?" Lily stuck out a hand that was probably the same size as Lucy's  
  
"Call it quits?" screeched the irate blonde  
  
"There's and echo in here" muttered Lily under her breath but Lucy ignored her  
  
"Your muggle born aren't you?" she demanded and Lily nodded wondering why it made a difference to   
them striking up a truce "And you *dare* offer a truce between us? You are as stupid as you are   
disgusting" Lily was strongly reminded of petunia and was biting deep into her bottom lip to stop   
herself saying something she would regret, after all this was Sirius's sister and Mrs. Black's daughter   
and they, at least, had been *very* kind to her but her small face must has showed what she was   
thinking because Lucy walked over to the still sitting Lily and put her face right up close to the red   
heads face but couldn't hold her, intense green stare, so with her eyes averted Lucy shrieked   
"YOU FILTHY *MUDBLOOD*"   
and made as if to storm off but had each of her arms caught by James and Sirius who looked as if they   
were trying hard not to kill the child  
  
"Apologize" Gritted James in her ear  
  
"No!" yelled the girl pouting, "its true and she deserves it"  
  
"That's it!" said Sirius and both he and James began frog marching her down the corridor in the   
direction of her mother.   
  
Stunned Lily followed, she didn't know exactly what the word meant but she knew it was an insult and   
had a pretty good idea of its meaning: 'muggle born witch or wizard' Lily wondered how many other   
people would think like this girl did, she thought she had found some where, where she would be   
accepted: obviously she was wrong!   
  
But she had James and Sirius at least so this had to be better than life with Petunia. That thought caused  
her to brighten up a bit and she almost smiled at the irony: her first enemies in either world were Lucy   
and Petunia's: both were the spoilt sister of their families and one loathed her for being a witch and the   
other hated her for being muggle (or at least muggle *born* but in Lucy's eyes they were the same)  
  
She must have looked quite lost standing there staring into space her small pail face bemused as it had   
been when she first entered the 'leaky cauldron' because some one gently took her arm and began   
leading her towards the stairs. Looking up she realized it was one of James's brothers   
  
"Um…Skye?" she hazarded. Laughing the boy shook his head his messy hair flapping  
  
"No…Blaze" he answered with a grin, which Lily retuned. Blaze paused for a moment dazed by the   
smile and then began leading her down the stairs again.   
  
"Lily Dear, there you are" Mrs. Black stood up looking concerned  
"thank you Blaze" she said absently to the boy who had fetched Lily and he shrugged re taking his seat   
by his brothers   
"I am *so* sorry, I cant think *what* has come over Lucy" then turning a hard look on her youngest   
daughter Mrs. Black seethed   
"apologize then go to your room until I can think how to punish you, I have *never* been so ashamed   
of you in my *life*"  
  
"No!" the same petulant reply was received then turning her most icy look on Lily said in a menacing   
whisper   
"You'll be sorry!" before turning on her heal and marching up the stairs. Lily could see Mrs. Black was  
about to go after her daughter, Lily had *never* seen *anyone* look *that* angry, in fact the girl would   
not have been surprised if smoke began to billow from her ears, her face was dead white and her lips   
were thinned as she stared after the errant child. Laying a restraining hand on Mrs. Blacks arm she said  
  
"Its ok, leave her" Lily comforted thinking privately that she had made her first enemy in this new life,   
and even if it was only a spilt, jealous, five year old girl, the thought still upset her.  
  
"No" Mrs. Black said sighing   
"it isn't ok, but thank you for saying so, and we wont let this spoil our day, so all of you go up to your  
rooms get everything you need, freshen up and we will meet back here in fifteen minuets"   
  
They all stood and rushed up the stairs  
_____________________________________________________________________________  
  
Well? What did you think? PLEASE review…PLEEEEEEEEEASE!  
Goddess Bless luv Aurora xxx 


	4. Ch 4 - The birth of 'The Marauders'

Ch 4 - The birth of 'The Marauders'  
  
Lily went into her room checked her self in the mirror then grabbed her favorite bag (it was a gray   
teddy with blue eyes and a zip down its back where you opened the bag, the straps were completely   
covered by strings of badges that Lily had collected over time and pined there, everything from hippy   
statements like  
'give piece a chance' and  
'I want to grow up not blow up' to badges with statements like   
'chaos, confusion and destruction - my work here is done' and  
'how can I miss you if you wont go away?')   
  
There wasn't much room in it and it didn't exactly go with the tough army chick look but she wore it   
any way, she grabbed her bank card out of the pocket of her jeans from last night and made for the   
door.   
  
She met James and Sirius in the hallway and they followed her. Lily flew out of the door to the Leaky   
Cauldron and into muggle London; she made it to the nearest cash machine in record time and put in   
her card. Just as she was typing in her pin code James asked   
  
"What *is* that and what *are* you doing with it?  
  
"Its kind of like a muggle bank" Lily explained,   
"and I am drawing out all my muggle money to change into wizarding money and then I will open a   
vault at Gringots and put it in there."   
  
They nodded, it made since after all, and watched fascinated as Lily entered her pin number and drew   
out her entire savings from birthdays and Christmases over the years (she had a building society   
account that her parents had set up and paid into for her but she couldn't touch that until she was   
eighteen) Lily's parents thought money was the answer to everything, that it could replace tactual   
parenting, and they owned their own company do they had plenty of it, consequently Lily had nearly   
£600.00 in her account (A/N: don't know what that is in $'s) she had £20.00 left that she had grabbed   
from home and still had her mothers pin number so she drew out £30.00 from there leaving her with   
her life savings of £650.00 hoping it would be enough Lily put it into her bag and made for the Leakey   
Cauldron once more thinking that she would have to get her parents to pay her £25.00 a month   
allowance into her back account by switch, so that when she needed money she could get what she   
had saved that way.   
  
Feeling satisfied Lily, James and Sirius got back to their rooms just in time to hear Mrs. Black call   
"James, Sirius, Lily, come down please" and they did.   
  
The entire group would go to Gringots first and split up after so with a wave to Tom they stepped out   
of a side door and ended up facing a brick wall. Clearly unperturbed by this Mrs. Black stepped   
forward and tapped her wand against a certain brick, and before the eyes of every one there a large   
opening grew in the wall leading onto a busy street packed with shops children owls and adults, which   
Lily guessed to be Diagonally.   
  
Stepping through Mrs. Black led the way towards a magnificent white stone building, followed by   
Mary then the Potter twins and Lily, James and Sirius brought up the rear. (Lucy had been confined to   
her room at the Leaky Cauldron as part punishment for her behavior towards Lily)   
  
They entered Gringots and were ussured through two sets of doors by a pair of quite intimidating   
goblins with long nobly fingers hooked noses and beady suspicious eyes. Standing in the large marble   
room on the other side of these doors Mrs. black gathered the children around them and began to give   
out orders  
  
"Right then, Mary and Sirius you stay with me and we'll visit our vault, James Skye and Blaze will   
obviously have to go to their vault together and" she glanced at Lily and then decided "Lily dear you   
come with us as well" so the two groups parted and Lily followed Mrs. Black towards a table behind   
which a Goblin stopped taking notes in his ledger and looked up squeaking  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"I need to visit vault 276 and Lily hear has some muggle money she needs exchanging and putting in a   
vault" Lily gaped at Mrs. black - 'how had she known?' but Mrs. black only smiled and continued   
"then she needs to see if she has a family vault" Having nearly forgotten about this possibility the small   
red head jumped, but remained silent, waiting.   
  
"Very well" said the goblin, turning to Lily   
"where is your muggle money?" Fishing in her teddy bear bag Lily produced the wad of cash she had   
withdrawn earlier. The goblin took it and turned to a smaller goblin behind him, snapped some orders   
they couldn't hear and turned back to them,   
"your vault number is 314" and with that he handed Lily a small golden key,   
"next," it continued briskly,   
"to find out if you have a family trust vault step this way" the group followed the goblin as he took them  
into a small marble anti chamber and instructed Lily to stand in front of a blank wall and state her full   
name clearly.   
  
Feeling slightly silly Lily stepped up to the wall and said  
"Lily Flower Evens" and to her amazement a small golden key and a card flew out of a draw that   
blended so perfectly with the wall no one could tell it was there.   
The goblin caught the card in his long fingered hand and glanced at it and Lily caught the key, which   
was very similar to that of her other vault.   
  
"Do you have your key?" he questioned the blacks and Mrs. black nodded,   
"this way please," said the goblin and they were off again.   
  
(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)  
  
The rickety cart flew down a labyrinth of underground passages so fast every ones hair flew back from   
their heads and streamed behind them, it was cold this far underground and the air was clammy, just as   
it seemed their dizzying journey would never end the cart jolted to an abrupt halt outside a vault labeled   
276 and they all stepped out. Taking a key from her purse Mrs. Black handed it to the goblin who   
unlocked the door.   
  
Inside were large piles of gold coins, the size of the ring made between the thumb and fore-finger of an   
adult hand making the 'ok' sign, huge towers of silver coins as big as a fifty pence piece and tall mounds  
of bronze coins about the size of shirt buttons, Lily gasped awed at the sight as Mrs. Black brusquely   
filled two money bags with coins giving the larger one to Sirius as he would have a lot of things to by   
to start his first year and then they all climbed back into the goblins cart and it sped off down the tracks.  
  
The next stop was a vault labled 'family vault 87' and again they all piled out the goblin with them   
looked expectantly at Lily and Sirius nudged her and whispered  
  
"Give him your key"  
  
"Oh yes right" she said and handed it over.   
  
For the second time a vault door swung open and Lily saw mounds of coins, not as many or as tall as   
the ones in the Black vault, 'but then she thought, that is all their money, and all mom and dads wages   
and stuff go into a muggle bank account so its no wonder they have more' pleased with her self for this   
deduction Lily looked back to the fair amount of money sitting in the open safe and looked helplessly at  
the coins, as always Mrs. Black was in complete control of the situation and she stepped forward with   
a third money bag and scooped some of the gold coins into it then she added a handful of silver and   
the same of the bronze then gave the almost full bag to Lily who put it inside her teddy,   
  
"You can leave the key to your other vault in here if you want Lily dear" advised Mrs. Black gently,  
  
"Oh, yes, thankyou" said Lily and put the other small gold key next to a pile of large god coins, the   
goblin made a few notes on the card that had flown out with the key and then pocketed both card and   
key and went back to the cart.  
  
It was a relief to be back up in the warm summer air and on firm ground not the rattling cart and here   
Lily Sirius Mrs. Black and Mary met up with the potters  
  
"Right then" said Mrs. black getting their attention   
"Skye and Blaze I suppose you two will want to go shopping together, so just don't spend to much   
and be back by six" the potter boys nodded grinning and left the bank, next the older woman turned to   
the three soon-to-be-first-years and said Mary and I will go together do any of you want to join us?"   
  
"No thankyou" they chorused   
  
"I thought so, well don't get into any trouble and stay together and be back by six thirty, as you will   
have more to get"  
  
"Bye" they called as they hurried out of the back followed by Mrs. Black and Mary.  
  
(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)  
  
"So where do you want to go first?" asked James when they got out into the bright sunshine again   
  
"Don't look at me," Lily said  
  
"Lets get the boring stuff first, so I say we go to madam Malkins and get our school robes"   
  
This sounded like a good idea so they all set off in the direction of a shop with a large gold pair of   
scissors above the door.   
  
Soon all three were standing side by side on stools with people fussing around them, pinning up their   
robes and making sure they fit.  
  
"Ow!" exclaimed James as he got a pin stuck in his ankle   
  
"Don't wriggle!" advised the kind faced lady working on his robes, and the others laughed.   
  
"So after here lets go to 'Flourish and Blots' to get our books that way we can get all the heavy things   
and dump them in our rooms before doing the rest." This was Sirius most sensible comment of the day  
and he beamed in pride as they agreed with him.  
  
Pretty soon they all jumped down to from the stools and went to pay for their robes but here Lily had a   
problem when she was told the amount and reached for her purse she realized she didn't know what any  
of the coins were called but Sirius came to her rescue  
  
"The large gold ones are galleons, the silver ones are sickles and the bronze ones are knuts"   
Nodding gratefully and smiling at Sirius and making him blush Lily quickly paid for her robes ant they   
left.  
  
True to their word their next stop was 'Flourish and Blots' but before they got there James asked,   
  
"Did anyone bring their school list?"  
  
"Oh no, that would mean being organized and possessing more than half a brain cell" said Lily smiling   
"I'll go get mine now" and she ran off back the way they had come.   
  
A few minuets later she returned panting and red in the face she fanned her self with the piece of paper   
she'd run to fetch as they entered the mercifully cool bookshop.  
  
"Hogworts?" asked a passing assistant and Lily handed over the paper saying  
  
"Yes please, three sets"  
  
"Wait here then," said the man and he walked away.  
  
Looking around the store there eyes lighted on a stack of novelty parchments and Sirius picked up a  
role that encrypted everything you wrote and could only be read if you had the pass charm (like a pass   
word bit it's a charm) otherwise it looked just like a harmless piece of home work or scrap paper.   
James picked up a role that made everything you wrote disappear and could only be read by the writer,   
Lily found a 'rubber' that animated what ever you wrote or drew.   
  
Putting their finds into their baskets they continued to look around; Lily saw a book on magical   
creatures called 'from hinky-punks to hippogriffs - a complete guide to everything you need to know   
about magical creatures'   
she opened it and as she was flicking through she found a spell to summon fairies, she read it over and   
over trying to memorize it, she studied the explanation of the wrist action involved and how to   
enounceate the words, the book said it was a third year spell but only because you had to be able to   
cope with the creatures you could end up summoning if you get it wrong.   
  
Sirius was looking through a book with a large black dog on the cover called 'death omens - what to do  
when you know the worst is coming' and James was very interested a thick volume about animagi called  
'Animagus - a transformers guide' he was having a lot of fun trying to guess what he would be if her   
were to become and animagus, he thought it would either be a stag or a bear depending on whether he   
would call himself 'out going and courageous' or 'fierce and brave'.   
  
Just then the assistant came over with three stacks of books levitating behind him, he put one set of   
books in each of the children's basket handed Lily back her list and smiled at the three before walking   
off to help a long faced woman who's son looked to be about their age, the boy was quite tall and   
fairly thin he looked tired, old before his time, his eyes were gray blue and he had a disheveled look   
about him.   
  
The children added roles of parchment, bottles of ink and quills to their already full baskets along with   
the books each of them had been looking at and a bottle of exploding ink a bottle of multi color ink a   
bottle of luminous flashing will-write-on-any-thing ink some edible ink in three colors/flavors and some   
trick quills, some writing paper envelopes and a wax seal each. Dragging there over flowing baskets   
over to the till the children eventually left with much lighter purses and much heavier hands.  
  
"Lets go dump this lot in our rooms then get an ice cream," suggested Lily and they all nodded and   
walked back towards the pub.   
  
They were on their way to Florien Fortiscues ice cream parlor the passed 'Quality Quiditch serplys' and  
it was as if the boys were magnetically attracted the window to press their face against it along with a   
lot of other excited children all staring at the new 'Midnight Arrow'  
  
(A/N: my new friend and author of an amazing fic called:   
'Naturally Amazed' so I advise all of you to   
READ IT')  
  
Lily looked at the broomstick for a while, she couldn't wait to learn to fly but she had never heard of   
quiditch so she decided to go in and look around.   
  
Inside it looked a lot like a muggle sports shop, there were hangers holding 'quiditch robes' with a sign   
saying 'support your teem in style - the best dressed in the stadium' and Lily assumed that this was like  
buying the replica strip of your favorite football teem or something.   
  
Glancing around some more she found some small boxes said to contain something called 'a golden   
snitch' and even Lily with her limited knowledge of wizarding money realized these were *expensive*   
  
Next to these were a lot of boxes that shook and wobbled a lot and what ever was inside them was   
called a 'bludger', and after that boxes containing something called a 'quaffle'. A book on a stand by   
the door called 'Quiditch Explained' caught her eye 'explains the game from the most basic game-play   
to the best teems in the league and their strategies' Picking it up, she took it over to the counter to pay,   
deciding that as quiditch was clearly a popular sport in the wizarding world that she would like to   
understand at least something about it, next to the counter was a display table with what looked like a   
lot of armored rounders bats on and a sign saying 'quality beaters bats only half price with every   
quaffle you buy.   
  
Putting 'Quiditch Explained' in her bag she walked out of the shop and went looking for James and   
Sirius.   
  
Having eventually dragged them away from the window for fear their noses would go flat Lily sat with   
James and Sirius at Florin Fortiscues eating an ice cream Sunday,   
  
"I can't wait to try out for the quiditch teem in my second year, shame first years aren't allowed,"  
said James for the third time and Sirius nodded excitedly (Quiditch had been the main…well the *only*  
topic of conversation since they had left 'quality quiditch serplys')   
  
"What about you Lil? Do you want to try out?" Sirius asked her  
  
"I don't really know anything about quiditch and I have never flown a broom before in my life"   
this admission turned out to be a *BIG* mistake, Lily regretted saying that almost a soon as the words   
were out of her mouth, the boys launched into a tumult of flying tips and quiditch rules and Lily hoped   
they weren't going to tell her *everything* about the game after all 'Quiditch Explained' was quite thick   
and she had a feeling that it would take a *long* time. It didn't help of course that the two boys kept   
going off at a tangent and arguing about Ronald the Tornado or Fredric the Bulldozer would be more   
useful on a teem if they were playing against the French seeker Piers De Natalmont.   
  
After that topic was *finally* exhausted and there ice creams were finished they decided to go and get   
their wands.   
  
On their way to Olivanders they met the Potter twins who, for want of anything better to do, decided to  
come along too, on there way into the shop they saw Mary and Mrs. Black and they decided to join   
them as well, so understandably it was fairly crowded inside the dusty wand shop. Mr. Olivander   
greeted them all and recited the type of wand that each of them had bought from him then turned to the  
three children  
  
"Ok, who's first, ahh another Potter" he turned to James "come here please" nervously James stepped   
forward and Mr. Olivander took a very strange set of measurements then bustled off into the stacks to   
find a wand, the first one he waved did nothing and nether did the second or third but the forth one   
gave them all a surprise, James gave it a half hearted flick in the general direction of a discarded wand   
box and to everyone's surprise where the wand box had been was now a perfect tiny replica of the   
Midnight Arrow (A/N: remember people, READ HER FIC!) every one clapped and James looked   
stunned Mr. Olivander said  
  
"Most can only make sparks but you seem to have a particular talent for transfiguration"   
  
"And obsession for quiditch" muttered Lily under her breath as Mr. Olivander put James's wand into a   
new box and turned to Sirius.  
  
Sirius definatly made sparks! On his second attempt green sparks rocketed from the end of his wand   
directly at the miniature floating broomstick and it turned completely lime green, *luminous* lime green   
and gold writing appeared on the opposite side to where it said 'Midnight Arrow' which read 'Property   
of James H. Potter' again everyone clapped and Mr. Olivander boxed up the wand. Lily was very   
nerves, she was sure that she wouldn't even be able to make a puff of smoke let alone change a box   
into a broom stick or turn something lime green, but then she remembered the summoning charm in her   
book on magical creatures from 'Flourish and Blots' and decided she *Would* learn how to call fairies  
to her, and with that thought in mind she stepped bravely up and for a third time the measuring tape   
took its strange set of measurements then as Mr. Olivander disappeared into the stacks again,   
  
Lily thought furiously: she knew summoning wasn't turning something into something else so it wasn't   
transfiguration and she didn't think fairies were dark creatures so it probably wasn't Defense against   
the dark arts and it obviously wasn't potions or history of magic and it could be care of magical   
creatures but she thought that was more hands-on so probably didn't evolve much wand work so she   
guessed it must be charms, she wanted a wand that was good at charms.   
  
Finally the wand shop owner came out holding a box from which he took a wand saying   
  
"9 inches, swishy, good for charms work"   
  
'Charms' Lily thought desperately this *had* to be the wand for her, the wand that would help her   
summon fairies, she took it and without thinking flicked her wrist in the exact action described in the   
book she had bought and to her shock tiny fairies flew out of the end of her wand streaming up and   
out lining the sealing and landing on peoples heads. Lily didn't understand how this could have   
happened after all she hadn't said the spell for the summoning and she had expected them to fly in not   
come out the end of her wand, but then she realized that her fairies were ice cold to the touch and   
popping like bubbles when they touched things and diapering as they flew out of the door, they were   
illusions, illusions that looked like fairies because that's what she had been so concentrated on, she   
laughed out loud as her new wand continued to spew beautiful shimmering 'fairies' in all the colors of   
the rainbow people were stopping in the street to stare in through the window at the amazing cascade of  
color.   
  
Finally Mrs. Black took out her wand and said   
"Finite incentartem' and the fairies disappeared.   
  
"No prizes for guessing what Lily was thinking about" quipped Sirius as they paid for their wands  
  
"Yeah" said Lily laughing   
"but if James was thinking about quiditch and transfigured a broomstick and I was thinking about fairies  
and made illusions of them come out of my wand what where you thinking about when you got sparks   
that could turn stuff lime green?"  
  
"Ahh" replied Sirius in his best 'misty all-seeing' voice   
"that is one of the mysteries of the grate unknown"   
  
"I sometimes think *you* are one of the mysteries of the grate unknown Sirius!" Said his mother   
walking up behind them   
"its nearly six any way where have you got left to go?"  
  
"On wards ever upward mother!" cried Sirius earning himself some strange looks from a passing   
group of elderly witches   
"there is always some where else to go"  
  
"Very profound!" said Lily dryly but I think she ment where else do we need to go to get our school   
things" Sirius looked ready to give another 'patented Sirius answer' when James cut in  
  
"Just the apothecary and maybe the magical menagerie and that's it"  
  
"Ok well the rest of us are finished so don't be to long will you?"  
  
"No, we wont" they all said and set off in the direction of the apothecary.   
  
"I am glad we left this place till nearly last I would hate to carry this stuff around all day" said James   
glancing at the disgusting smelling ingredients the long faced assistant was ladling out, indeed the stink   
rising pickled frogs liver in brine was making them all feel quite queasy. Once they had paid for their   
potion ingredients (which were thankfully wrapped up in a smell-proof bag) and bought a standard size   
one puter cauldron and set of potions tools each they stepped out of the shop and headed towards the  
magical menagerie,   
  
"Maybe I shouldn't have bought that new set of gob stones" wondered Sirius "I really want an owl but   
I don't know if I have enough left" he was looking through his nearly empty money bag   
  
"Yeah" agreed Lily "I am beginning to think that wizards chess set wasn't such a good idea either"  
  
"Mm" nodded James "possibly buying those exploding quills was a mistake"  
  
"Its getting dark and we defiantly don't have time to go back to Gringots now" groaned Lily.   
It appeared that all of them wanted a pet and non seemed to have much money.   
  
They stepped into the menagerie and found they probably would have just about enough money maybe.  
They each bought an owl, Lily got a small white one, James got a black and brown one and Sirius got a   
handsome tawny eagle owl, but just as Lily was paying foe her owl a tiny black kitten only big enough   
to curl up in the palm of even Lily's exceptionally small hand, she could only have been a week old,   
wobbled unsteadily across the stained counter top. Lily fell in love with the tiny black and white   
creature at once and turned to the owner of the shop, a tall woman who looked to be in her mid   
twenties with sun streaked mousy brown hair and laughing eyes, and said  
  
"How much is she?" and the woman saw Lily sorting through the few knuts she had left and asked   
  
"How much do you have?" counting Lily replied  
  
"One sickle and 7 knuts"   
  
"Well you can have her for that," the lady said kindly and was rewarded as Lily's jade eyes lit up with a   
dazzling smile and she impulsively ran over and hugged the lady.   
  
"Oh *thank you* Lily cried almost crying in happiness  
  
"She doesn't have any magical abilities mind," warned the lady blushing   
  
"What is your name?" asked Lily of the lady who replied  
  
"Olive Night" in a baffled voice as though she couldn't work out what difference it made  
  
"Night!" She exclamed looking down at the kitten which was gently nudging her hand   
"That's perfect. I will call her Night!"   
It seemed to suite the small kitten and it mewed softly in agreement.   
The woman blushed again and waved them out of the shop.  
  
They returned to the leaky cauldron and put their owls and the rest of their packages in their rooms and   
were all sitting in the room James and Sirius shared when Mrs. Black walked in  
  
"How much money have you got left?" she asked them  
  
"None" said James and the other two nodded  
  
"And what about money you will need at school? Or on the train ride there?" the children's faces fell,   
they hadn't thought of that, but strangely enough Mrs. Black was still smiling and seeing them look   
confused reached into a pocket and drew out three more money bags and tossed one to each of the   
children,  
  
"I got these from your vaults after Blaze and Skye did exactly that same thing and had to go back to   
Gringots themselves"   
  
The next instant all three leapt at her and hugged her tightly chorusing there relived thankyou's.   
Mrs. Black laughed softly and said  
  
"Well best get ready now, dinner will be in five minuets" and she left.  
  
Leaving everything in their rooms (except Night who stayed in Lily's pocket) they all went down stairs.  
  
Sitting around the table they discussed their day and Lily noticed that Lucy was still confined to her  
room and must be eating there. When they had finished Mrs. Black said  
  
"Now don't be up late tonight all of you we have to be out early tomorrow remember, your train leaved  
at nine!"   
  
There were assurances from each of them that they would be ready on time the next day and they all  
hurried back to their rooms  
(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)  
  
"So what about this detention competition?" asked James, all three were settled in the boys room,  
Lily was flicking through her new charms book and practicing wand movements and Sirius and James   
were playing gob stones  
  
"What?"   
asked Lily dreamily; the tone of her voice told them she wasn't really listening so, in an attempt to liven  
her up, picking up a loosing gob stone James threw it at Lily just as it squirted the disgusting smelling   
liquid it always did when some one lost a point  
  
"Eugh!" screamed Lily as she began to chase him around the room they trod on things and knocked   
things over and only stopped when Sirius in a rare sensible moment pulled them apart.   
  
Once they were settled down again and glaring daggers at each other Sirius said  
  
"The detention competition! You know? Where you try and get as many detentions as possible in a   
year?"  
  
"Oh yeah" Lily said, "I remember, what about it"  
  
"Well" said James "me and Sirius want in too, so we figured we ought to draw up some rules"  
  
"Ok," said Lily "firstly only detentions got through pulling pranks count"   
  
"Fair enough" said James "but we should have two tallies, one for as a group, coz, lets face it that *is*  
when we are going to get most, and then one for detentions got separately or in pairs"  
  
"Ok, agreed" Sirius said   
"but we need a name!" Seeing their blank faces he said,  
"you know? If we are getting detentions as a group don't we need a collective name?"  
  
"Alright what about …um…mischief makers anonymous" suggested Lily and James laughed out loud   
"fine then! She snapped if your so clever *you* think of a name"   
  
"Ok what about…um Pranksters incorporated" this time Lily laughed but then Sirius cried  
  
"Flower power!"  
  
"*WHAT*?!?!?!!?" exclaimed the other two but Sirius just shrugged, after that they tried everything   
from   
'the Hogworts three' to   
'only joking' and back again but disregarded them all.   
  
They still had no idea what they were going to be called when Mrs. Black stuck her head around the   
door and said  
  
"Come on now, time for bed" then stepping into the room she looked around at the after effects of Lily  
and James's little scrap and exclaimed  
  
"Heavens to goodness! She exclaimed throwing her hands in the air it looks like a heard of rhinoceros   
have been marauding through here!"   
  
The children looked at each other, it was as if a light had come on behind each of their eyes; they stood  
for a moment staring joyfully at each other then:   
  
"THE MAROUDERS!"   
  
they yelled together grinning triumphantly.  
  
And so the first steps to forming the greatest prankster organization in the history of Hogworts were   
taken and they went to bed knowing that tomorrow was another prank filled day.  
  
(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)  
  
"Oh, Lily?" called James after her retreating form "have you cut your hair?"  
Rolling her eyes and pretending not to here Lily unlocked her door and walked into her room,   
"*Boys*" she muttered shaking her head.  
  
_____________________________________________________________________________  
  
Good? Bad? Questions? Comments? Well say SOMETHING!!! plEEEEEEEEEse   
review **gets on knees and begs lovely readers to review** 


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